Background
The son of Cuthbert Sharp, shipowner, and of Susannah, sister of Brass Crosby, he was born at Sunderland in 1781, and received his education at Greenwich under Charles Burney.
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Cuthbert Sharp
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Career
When he was eighteen years of age he served in Ireland during the rebellion as an officer in the fencible cavalry. When his regiment was disbanded, Sharp went to Edinburgh, and in 1803 visited Paris. There he was stranded by the resumption of hostilities at the conclusion of the Peace of Amiens, and detained, with other English visitors, as a prisoner of war.
But by the influence of Claude Ambroise Régnier, the Minister of Justice, whom he knew, he was released on parole, and after a few years was allowed to leave for England.
Sharp settled at Hartlepool and took up the study of local antiquities. In 1816 he acted as mayor, and was knighted on the occasion of a visit of the Prince Regent.
In 1823 Sharp was appointed collector of customs at Sunderland. In 1845 he was promoted to the post of collector of customs at Newcastle-on-Tyne, where he resided until his death on 17 August 1849.
